MP hits back at critics of COVID vaccine, saying 'there is no conspiracy'

Mrs McArthur posted on her Facebook page she had received the jab, saying that if receiving the vaccine helped reopen international borders, she was "happy to oblige".

"Bev, you have been the champion of individual rights and freedoms and yet here you are bowing to the state's ransom. Incredibly disappointed and frankly disgusting," wrote one person in response to Mrs McArthur's post.

"Well not all of us are happy to oblige," wrote another.

Mrs McArthur said she understood why Victorians were reluctant to obey vaccination advice from the state government, but she encouraged all people to get a vaccination.

She said people's trust had been been "utterly betrayed continuously throughout the pandemic".

"However, if we are to get out of our 'Fortress Australia" approach, all levers have to be activated," Mrs McArthur said.

"We have to open up the economy so that those businesses still existing can get going and hopefully flourish.

"We need to facilitate workers back into jobs and we need communities to start operating normally."

Mrs McArthur said vaccines were an extraordinary advancement in human civilisation.

"If this vaccine helps mitigate the severity and spread of the virus then I am naturally willing to do my part in helping the country protect its people," she said.

Mrs McArthur said it was interesting how some people reacted to the actions of politicians. "I was criticised for attending parliament when the pandemic first started, even though unbeknown to the critics, I at no time entered the chamber as we were subsequently informed our contributions could be included in written form," Mrs McArthur said.

"And now, in order to do my job of representing constituents across 79,000 square kilometres and travel throughout the electorate, I believed I should get vaccinated. I am now in trouble for this too."

Mrs McArthur said she trusted the process of rolling out medications in Australia.

"Having been around politics for a long time and knowing many ministers in the federal government I feel that I am obliged to reassure those who are cynical about their advice, that they have only the best intentions when it comes to providing new medications, including vaccines," she said.

"There is no conspiracy."

Catch up on the headlines of the week with our weekly podcast The Booletin and Beyond released every Sunday:

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.